


Pay It Forward

by captainflintsjacket



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Christmas fic, F/M, Fluff, Second-Hand Embarrassment, did someone say coffee shop au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 06:31:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20523506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainflintsjacket/pseuds/captainflintsjacket
Summary: Based on the prompt "Character A vows to do something nice for a stranger during the Christmas time. Character B is that stranger" except it doesn't quite go as well as planned.





	Pay It Forward

“I don’t know what it is,” you sighed, stirring your hot cocoa. “I’m just not in the holiday spirit this year.” Normally, Christmas was your holiday. You’d bust out the decorations and tacky sweaters the day after Thanksgiving, decking your apartment floor to ceiling with lights, garlands, and porcelain snowmen. Then, you’d spend most of December baking cookies and wrapping all the presents you’d bought throughout the year. This time around, though, you’d already finished all your holiday activities with a week to go until Christmas and you still weren’t feeling festive.

“Is there anything different this year,” your friend Nyota asked over the phone. “You said your boss was giving you trouble.”

You took a sip of cocoa, hoping it would warm whatever was chilling your spirit. “Yeah, but Jim gives everyone trouble. I don’t know. I do the same thing every year. Maybe I need to spice it up somehow.”

“Aren’t you in a cafe? Why not buy a stranger a coffee or something?”

You snorted. “What like in those Hallmark movies you make me watch?”

Nyota groaned. “You promised to stop bringing those up.”

“I said I’d try to stop. I can’t help how funny it is that badass Nyota Uhura has a soft spot for Hallmark Christmas Classics.”

“You’re the worst. Find a different friend to help you out. Oh wait, you don’t have any other friends.”

“Guess you’re stuck with me,” you laughed.

“Ugh don’t remind me.” You could almost hear Nyota’s eyes rolling. “Listen, I’ve gotta go. Tell me how your random act of kindness goes.”

“Yes, ma’am,” you said before hanging up. As you looked around the cafe for your unsuspecting recipient, your eyes fell on a man in a booth by himself. His brown hair was unkempt and his eyes fluttered shut as he pinched the bridge of his nose. The muscles in his arm tightened, and you forgot briefly about your mission to do kindness, thinking of other, less nice things you’d like to do him.

You were forced back to reality as the man hung up the phone and dropped it on the table, the clatter echoing across the cafe and drawing stares. He cradled his head in his hands, not noticing you approach until you stood in front of his table and coughed. He looked up at you with eyes sweeter than the cocoa you just drank and you were convinced you’d melt if you looked at them too long.

“Hi,” you chirped. “You seemed upset, so I was wondering if I could buy you another drink. I know a hot drink always puts me in a good mood so I- I’m rambling, I’m sorry. I just I get nervous around hot men - STRANGE men,” you corrected, feeling your cheeks heat up. “Not that you’re strange. You’re just a stranger and I-I’m gonna stop talking now.”

To your delight, the man’s face began to soften. He even let out a quiet chuckle before leaning back in his seat. “Well, my mama didn’t raise me to say no to free drinks, so long as you promise to stay and sit with me.”

“Sure! What, uh…what would you like?” You toyed with the bottom of your sleeve, feeling like a teenager asking a boy to a dance. All you needed was a bad perm and some thick eyeliner and it would be high school all over again.

“Maple pecan latte,” he said.

“Ooh looks like I got a Southern boy on my hands,” you smiled.

“Guilty as charged.”

“All right. One maple pecan latte coming up for Mr. Southern Boy.”

The man laughed again and it was like velvet. “Name’s Leonard.”

“Hm, Leonard.” You couldn’t deny you liked the way his name felt rolling off your tongue. “I think I’ll stick with Mr. Southern Boy.” You heard Leonard laugh again as you turned towards the counter. It was the kind of sound you could get used to if you weren’t careful.

The drinks were done in no time, and you were on your way back to Leonard. He was bent over his phone, forehead creased and lips pressed together in a tight frown. You wanted to run your hands across the planes of his face and smooth everything out, but for now you’d have to settle with sharing a drink.

“One peppermint hot chocolate for me, and one maple pecan latte for Mr. South-” The rest of your sentence was lost in a wordless gasp as your foot caught the leg of a chair. Both drinks slipped from your hands as you tried to catch yourself on the edge of the table. The smell of peppermint and pecans mixed as the cups collided, waves of coffee spilling over the table like a tsunami with Leonard as the unfortunate victim.

He shot out of his chair, trying to wipe the hot drinks off his clothes before it burned his skin. You watched in abject horror until a barista came over with a towel to help clean up the mess.

“I’m so sorry. I’m such a klutz I swear I didn’t mean to make a mess I was only trying to do something nice I-”

“Sugar, sugar,” Leonard laughed, putting his hands on your shoulders. “It’s just coffee. Nothing a little Tide won’t get out.”

You groaned, trying to pull your scarf over your face to hide the growing blush. “At least let me help you clean up. My apartment is right down the street.”

Leonard raised an eyebrow. “Trying to take me home already?”

“Well, I tried to buy you a drink first,” you mumbled. Leonard grinned as the two of you walked side by side towards the door. He held it open for you, sliding his hand onto the small of your back when you passed him.

By the time you made it to your apartment, Leonard’s hand arm had snaked around your waist. All the tension from the cafe was gone. It was incredible how calm Leonard made you feel. You could almost hear Nyota’s disapproving voice asking how you could bring a complete stranger into your apartment, but that was the thing. Somehow, he didn’t feel like a stranger.

“Here we are,” you said cheerfully. You stepped out of Leonard’s warm arms and shrugging your jacket off.

“Bless your heart. You weren’t kidding when you said you go all out for Christmas.” Leonard shook his head in wonder as he followed you through your apartment to the bedroom. He fought back a laugh when he saw the giant teddy bear taking up most of your bed. “This the boyfriend,” he quipped.

You followed his line of sight to the bear and felt your cheeks heat up again. “It was a gift from my mom. She was worried I would be lonely when I moved out on my own.” Realizing that didn’t make you sound any less pathetic, you shoved a pair of sweatpants and a shirt at Leonard, unable to meet his eyes as you pushed him to the bathroom. Even through the closed door, you could hear him snickering.

As soon as the water started running, you grabbed your phone to call Nyota. Every ring felt like agony. You didn’t know how much time you had before Leonard was finished. Was he an in and out kind of guy? Or did he spend an hour replaying conversations in his head while the water dripped down those insanely sculpted arms and his hands ran over his-

“Hellooooo,” Nyota called out. “Did you seriously butt dial me? You know they have locks on phones now, right?”

“Shit, no, sorry. I’m…God I don’t know what I am.” You leaned against the counter, focusing on keeping your breathing level instead of thinking about Leonard naked in your shower.

“You sound flustered. Is everything okay?” 

“No everything is not okay,” you hissed. “I took your advice and bought someone a drink but then I spilled it all over him and now he’s taking a shower in my apartment and I don’t know what to do!!” You held the phone away from your face as Nyota erupted into laughter. “It’s not funny. Help me!”

“Is he cute?”

“Yes.”

“So you’ve got a cute guy in your shower and you’re telling me it’s a problem?”

“Yes, because I already embarrassed myself at the cafe and then he saw Mr. Hugglesworth and-”

Nyota cut you off with another sharp laugh. “Mr. Hugglesworth? Is that the bear your mom bought you for Christmas?”

“Hey, our agreement was I don’t judge you for liking Hallmark movies and you don’t judge me for having a giant stuffed bear named Mr. Hugglesworth.” Nyota was clearly fighting with herself to keep from laughing, breaking into a fit of fake coughs instead. “Please Nyota. I am so out of my depth here.”

“Okay, okay but first you have to tell me: How attractive is he exactly?”

“I don’t even have words. If he asked me to bend over the kitchen counter right now, I would and I haven’t even washed them recently.”

“You sure know how to flatter a guy.”

The blood ran from your face as you spun around, hiding your phone behind your back. Leonard was leaning against the back of your couch, sweatpants slung low on his hips, shirt a size too small and clinging to every muscle across his chest and arms. You blinked frantically before averting your gaze, trying to look at anything but Leonard while your brain rewired all its circuits so you could talk again.

Leonard stepped towards you and placed a hand against your forehead. You could smell your soap on him and it made your knees feel weak. “You all right? You’re lookin’ a little pale, sweetheart.”

“Yeah,” you answered an octave too high, “Fine. I’m fine. Never better.” You forced a smile and Leonard dropped his hand. Silence fell between you like an anvil.

“So…where’s your washer?”

“My washer?”

“Your washing machine. For my clothes.”

You smacked a hand against your forehead. “Laundry right. Yes. That’s why we’re here. It’s right over here,” you said, making your way through the kitchen to a small laundry room. “If you’ll just bring me your clothes, I can throw them in and…” your voice trailed off as you looked at the empty shelf above the washer and dryer. You forgot to buy detergent.

Leonard returned a moment later, clothes in tow. “There a problem,” he asked as he watched you stare at the shelf. He looked too, half expecting it to come to life.

“Well,” you started, “In an interesting turn of events, it seems that I, um. Well, I may have forgotten to actually buy detergent, so I….can’t…wash your clothes.” You bit your bottom lip, bracing yourself for anger but Leonard laughed. In fact, he laughed so hard he had to hold himself up on the counter.

“Let’s - Let’s forget about the clothes,” he said between breaths. “I can take ‘em home and wash ‘em at my place. Then, maybe I can take you out to dinner when I return the ones I’m wearing.”

“Seriously? I’m kind of a mess in case you haven’t noticed.”

Leonard stepped towards you with a smile. “So am I,” he said, tucking strand of hair behind your ear. “Some of us are just better at hiding it.” He leaned down and your heart leapt to your throat. You had to hide your disappointment when he tipped his head, pressing his lips to your cheek instead. “Thanks for an eventful afternoon, sugar.”


End file.
